


Remembered Footsteps on Old Roads

by brokenmemento



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, F/F, New Year's Eve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22076518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenmemento/pseuds/brokenmemento
Summary: Lilith asks Zelda to take a little trip, one that will prove difficult for her to do.
Relationships: Zelda Spellman & Mary Wardwell | Madam Satan | Lilith, Zelda Spellman/Mary Wardwell | Madam Satan | Lilith
Comments: 4
Kudos: 61
Collections: Madam Spellman 2020 Challenge





	Remembered Footsteps on Old Roads

**Author's Note:**

> As this is a work of fiction, I have skewed certain events for the story's sake. I borrowed a bit from science and religion alike to craft this tale so I apologize for any theological or historical inaccuracies. My research consisted of about an hour looking at pictures of different parts of the middle east.

Zelda begins to think she’ll never come back, but there’s a church in her name to establish, so she gives it time. Until they meet again, she dreams of her. The snippets of their time together replay on her eyes: watching her descend down their staircase of the mortuary, staring down a well in the middle of the night, sitting close on the parlor couch, feeling her heart practically beating out of her chest when she’d revealed who she truly was. 

No, not timid Mary Wardwell. Something darker, more dangerous. 

But then she’d ascended as per her own wishes and shown mercy and the ability to be kind. Zelda watched her carry poor Nick Scratch through the gates in the mines and felt something uncategorical close within her too. 

Now, she waits for the return of her lady. The very being she’s upended their coven to follow. And just as she’s about to fold, to throw in the towel as she’s buried in a stack of old texts, papers, and ink, she looks up and there she is as if by pure thought alone. 

Zelda watches as she crosses the expanse of the room and moves aside the detritus that’s been created, her blood red nails tapping and blue eyes burning like hellfire. She leans in and releases her most glorious smile, still upon the face of a woman that walks the mortal plane again. 

“Let’s build a church together,” Lilith tells her.

And so they begin. 

The summer burns away and they spend many nights in Zelda’s office at the Academy, see many early mornings as they discuss the doctrine of the Church of Lilith. They banter over rituals, they fight for what they believe, they cry when it gets overwhelming, they laugh when they throw away the remainders of Blackwood’s scripts into the fire. 

They end up building something more than a church, as Lilith leans in to wipe a tear of laughter from Zelda’s eye. She lingers a bit too long and Zelda makes the mistake of sucking in a breath and leaving it hanging in her lungs. Lilith rids her of it well and good then, leaning in and grazing her lips against her own. 

It’s soft, barely there. When she backs away, there's regret softening her features, but Zelda can’t stand it, so she closes the distance and does her own bit of connecting. It’s not tentative this time and Zelda doesn’t think of the implications of making a church follow a leader who’s deity has just unfurled her heart beyond measure. 

A breeze flows through the window of the office, flickering over their warming skin. When they disconnect, they both smile into the other with foreheads pressed together. 

*******************

“I want to know you,” Zelda whispers into her skin one night, fingers trailing her lips as they make a path up her tan and freckled back. 

Lilith raises her eyebrows but smiles into her pillow, tightening her grip of the bare body next to her. Turning her head, she meets the blazing green of Zelda’s eyes and feels stripped in more ways than one. 

“You’ve read the ancient texts. You know my history,” Lilith shrugs and then attempts at a joke. “You’re also pretty well acquainted with the body of Mary Wardwell too.”

Zelda raises up from her position to give Lilith a dour look. “Honestly, Lilith. The woman barely speaks to me when we pass.”

“How often have you been passing?” She’s amused, to say the least, but something else flares, hot, and she begins to let her mind wander. Zelda gives her usual eye roll and then runs a hand through brown curls, down to Lilith’s ( _Mary’s_ ) shoulder. She speaks, punctuating her words with kisses. 

“Not often. Here and there. More coincidence really,” Zelda tries to calm and Lilith can almost close her eyes and be catapulted back to halls and rooms of Baxter High. To the school teacher’s life she lived for six months. 

“As long as that’s all it is,” Lilith tries for a pout. 

Zelda flips her then, climbs above her in all her glory. Her red hair cascades down like rain and she cups a cheek with an alabaster hand. 

“Are you afraid I’d accost her? Strip her to nothing and have my way with her?”

“No,” Lilith grouses and plays with the skin at Zelda’s hips. 

“I’m yours, as long as you’ll have me. And I’m asking to learn everything I can about you. I want you to show me,” Zelda says seriously, sincerely. 

Lilith sighs heavily and lets silence pass between them. Zelda shifts her hips and Lilith can’t help but lose her way even more. If she’s trying to make her case, Lilith supposes she’s doing a fine job. It’s this that makes her say something she never thought she would. 

“Leave me time to think on it.”

So much mystery to her yet, but she finds herself wanting to let go of more. Despite sticking her toes into old footprints, the look on Zelda Spellman’s face almost makes it worth the chance.

************************

The slips of paper are slid across the small table as the two of them sit opposite after the Solstice celebrations. Zelda is mid-sip of her mulled cider. The only light in the parlor is being emitted by the nearby crackle of the fireplace and she has to lean over to see the print. 

“Tel-Aviv,” she whispers in shock. The departure time near the destination holds the date of the morn.

Zelda looks across the table to Lilith who sits perched with legs crossed and an arm slung across the back of the seat. Her red lips curl into a grin and she leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees. Gathering her composure, she nods.

“Yes. I’m giving in to your request. Near there is where my story begins. To know me, you need to walk the paths I have. See the valleys and cities and mountains that I wandered many millennia ago.”

“I thought Greendale was the nexus for Lucifer’s fall?”

“The world looked much different back then,” she shrugs simply. “We’ve all disconnected, in some way or another. I’m taking you to my garden, Zelda. To my Ghenna. To where my life started.”

It’s not a place Zelda would have ever imagined going. In all of her travels, the land deemed as holy by the Christians never made the bucket list since her life had been devoted to the path of night. She supposes that it makes sense to visit though, considering it’s the cradle of life for each side. How tangled and inextricable the weaving is between both worlds. One does not exist anymore without the other.

Zelda finds herself swallowing the hundreds of reasons why she can’t simply drop everything and run across continents. Instead, she leans back away from the gift and eyes Lilith warily. 

“A plane though? Teleportation seems a much easier method,” she chastises lightly. “How very mortal of you.” 

It’s teasing when she says it but Lilith narrows her eyes anyway. She shrugs again and gestures with her hand, a dismissive flourish. 

“What can I say? New year, new me.” 

Zelda bursts into laughter then, warmed by the fire and wine and thought of following Lilith to the ends of the earth. It’s flame inside her soul and she rises from where she sits to join the demoness on the other side. Wrapping her arms around her neck, she nudges Lilith’s chocolate locks with her nose. Her lips graze the shell of her ear and she feels her tremble beneath her hands. 

“I’d go anywhere with you,” Zelda breathes in confession.

The fire crackles as their lips meet in a solstice kiss that sheds a glow on the darkest parts of their hearts, lights up the ink printed on the boarding passes. Tomorrow. Tomorrow unravels the story of her queen.

**************************

Out of the window, the world inches by. If Lilith feels anything about being close to her origins, she doesn’t speak them. She remains stoic next to Zelda with stark eyes. Somewhere over the Mediterranean, Zelda grabs her hand and gives it a squeeze, not letting it go.

She takes her to the old city, the cobblestone walkways bearing years of footsteps. Zelda rakes her hand across delicately woven tapestries, smells spices from another world, fingers jewelry with thick stones that glint in the hanging bulbs providing illumination. A steady hand stays on her lower back guiding her, pushing her through the bazaars and bodies. 

They take a bus, of all things, to the top of Mount Zion. Lilith grumbles about the modernization of the area and her grief is almost tangible as they stand where she spent many a year. Her cave, which housed her soul long ago, no longer stands, destroyed for roadways and buildings to pacify the world wanting to build up, up, and up.

A lone tear streaks down her face and Zelda reaches to take it, but then Lilith is pulling her hand away from where they stand. When they reach the open air, she sucks in a breath as if it will be her last, closes her eyes and shakes her head. When she opens them again, the blue are fraught with more than Zelda can ever begin to understand. 

“Did you know my name, translated from the Jewish texts in Hebrew, means ‘night monster?’ Her bottom lip quivers and her eyes fill again. “They’re the only ones that ever give me any credit anymore. And when they do, it’s to vilify me. Like I’m the plague upon history.” 

Zelda doesn’t know what she’s to say. While she expected the trip to be difficult, she didn’t expect absolute heart-tugging. She’s absent of anything that can change the world that Lilith has endured. This is what levels her the most.

“I suppose it’s better than those who follow the false god. At least I get a couple of verses in Hebrew. My name is mysteriously missing from Christian texts. They’ve erased me completely, as if I never existed,” Lilith continues with her eyes full of tears. 

“You exist, you exist, you exist,” Zelda chants softly into the side of Lilith’s hair. 

They hold hands as the sun sets across the city. 

By morning’s light, she seems to have shaken off the previous day’s anguish and burrows into Zelda’s body with ferocity. For her part, Zelda tries to erase what she can with her mouth and auditory promises. Lilith devours it all and they stand in the gauze curtains dancing in the wind, devoid of anything except the other.

In the evening, they venture south from the old part of the city down into the valley. Lilith carries a basket on one arm and holds Zelda with the other. They walk off the small path, past the tombs and into the sprinkling of olive trees. 

“My dear Zelda, this is the crux of my existence. The place where I feel most connected to my life on earth,” Lilith smiles. “Welcome to Gehenna.” 

She’s read the stories, knows of the supposed curse laid upon the land. In the sacred texts, she’s internalized the writings about fire, sacrifice, and the wicked. These rolling hills were a part of dark times in the past, ones that Lilith witnessed firsthand. The smile on her face alludes to the wild part of the demoness, the one Zelda will never tame. The one she’s not sure she wants to. 

They feed one another bread in oil, pop grapes into their mouths, and drink heartily on wine. Lilith regales her in stories of the valley, of the way the flames could be seen back then for miles. A wistful look crosses her face afterward and she reaches for Zelda’s hand. 

They end the night the same way they started it-in one another’s arms. 

Their last day proves taxing. Lilith rises early, edgy, and only drinks strong coffee before they charter a ride east. Zelda tries to make conversation but she knows what’s ahead. Lilith keeps her sunglasses on and gazes out the window most of the journey. The mighty Euphrates appears first, then the waters of the Tigris. They cut a winding path across the land and she knows they will soon be at their destination. 

Hours and miles later, they stand by the river edge. Boats line the waterways and Lilith looks out across them, tapping her foot nervously. Once again, Zelda finds it hard to find what to say. There’s a reason Lilith saved this place for last: it’s where holds the most glory. And the most pain. 

“Like everything else, this was very different when I walked the earth. No murkiness to the water. They were the clearest blue. You could see to the bottom,” Lilith motions. “Trees and green were as far as the eye could see. It was...beautiful. Almost perfect even.”

Her face gets a wry smile and then she cocks her eyebrow. “Of course, then, Adam was trying to convince me I wasn’t molded of the same quality of clay as he. That somehow, I was to be beneath him for all eternity.”

Zelda glances over her, a reprieve from the sun glinting off the waters. She finds Lilith holding her own again. How she must have felt to have forever ripped away, to be cast out not only from her home but wiped from memory. 

“We are not born to lay under men any longer,” Zelda offers. Because it’s true. While life may not be the same as when Lilith was created, it has most surely improved in that regard. 

Lilith turns and brings her hand to caress Zelda’s cheek. Tomorrow they leave and this will all be a memory again. 

“Let’s head back,” Lilith sighs wearily. 

They find a small lodging for the night close by. When they walk through the door, Zelda lets her clothing wisp from her body and begs Lilith to be anything but idle. They relish in one another then, wholeheartedly. In the distance, concussed booms travel to their ears and light the sky with flickers. 

“Happy New Year,” Zelda tells her. 

“It will be, won’t it?” Lilith responds. She places a hand over Zelda’s heart, kisses away another year, another decade. 

Zelda breathes her in, knows that out of the many moons she’s watched rise and fall, that this will be worth the lot of them. The Queen and the High Priestess, taking the world by storm.


End file.
